Four people-smugglers convicted of killing 39 people from Vietnam who died in the back of a container truck as it was shipped to England were sentenced Friday to between 13 and 27 years in prison.The victims, between the ages of 15 and 44, were found in October 2019 inside a refrigerated container that had traveled by ferry from Belgium to the eastern England port of Purfleet. The migrants had paid people-smugglers thousands of dollars to take them on risky journeys to what they hoped would be better lives abroad.Instead, Judge Nigel Sweeney said, “all died in what must have been an excruciatingly painful death” by suffocation in the airtight container.These photos released Jan. 22, 2021, by Essex police show, from left, Ronan Hughes, Gheorghe Nica, Maurice Robinson and Eamonn Harrison, all sentenced to prison in the deaths in England of 39 Vietnamese migrants in 2019.The judge sentenced Romanian mechanic Gheorghe Nica, 43, described by prosecutors as the smuggling ringleader, to 27 years. Northern Irish truck driver Eamonn Harrison, 24, who drove the container to the Belgian port of Zeebrugge, received an 18-year sentence.Trucker Maurice Robinson, 26, who picked the container up in England, was sentenced to 13 years and 4 months in prison, while haulage company boss Ronan Hughes, 41, was jailed for 20 years.Nica and Harrison were convicted last month after a 10-week trial. Hughes and Robinson had pleaded guilty of people-smuggling and manslaughter.Three other members of the gang received shorter sentences.Prosecutors said all the suspects were part of a gang that charged about 13,000 pounds ($17,000) per person to transport migrants in trailers through the Channel Tunnel or by boat.Sweeney said it was “a sophisticated, long-running and profitable” criminal conspiracy.Migrants’ last momentsJurors heard harrowing evidence about the final hours of the victims, who tried to call Vietnam’s emergency number to summon help as air in the container ran out. When they couldn’t get a mobile phone signal, some recorded goodbye messages to their families.The trapped migrants — who included a bricklayer, a restaurant worker, a nail bar technician, a budding beautician and a university graduate — used a metal pole to try to punch through the roof of the refrigerated container, but only dented it.Detective Chief Inspector Daniel Stoten, the senior investigating officer on the case, said the victims “left behind families, memories and homes, in the pursuit of a false promise of something better.””Instead, they died, in an unimaginable way, because of the utter greed of these criminals,” he said.
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Month: January 2021
North Korea Sees Talks as Way to Advance Nuclear Program, US Intel Official Says
The top U.S. intelligence officer for North Korea warned Friday the country sees diplomacy only as a means to advance its nuclear weapons development, even as the new Biden administration says it will look for ways to bring Pyongyang back to talks.President Joe Biden’s nominee for secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said Tuesday the new administration planned a full review of the U.S. approach to North Korea to look at ways to increase pressure on it to return to the negotiating table.White House press secretary Jen Psaki speaks during a press briefing at the White House, Jan. 22, 2021.White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki reiterated this on Friday, saying North Korea’s nuclear weapons were a serious threat to peace and Washington had a vital interest in deterring Pyongyang.Sydney Seiler, the U.S. national intelligence officer for North Korea, told the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank earlier that Pyongyang’s weapons development had been a consistent policy for 30 years.”Every engagement in diplomacy has been designed to further the nuclear program, not to find a way out. … I just urge people not to let the tactical ambiguity obstruct the strategic clarity about North Korea that we have,” he said.This picture released by North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) Jan. 9, 2021, shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un speaking at the 8th Congress of the Workers’ Party of Korea, in Pyongyang.”So we should not be overly encouraged if suddenly (North Korea leader Kim Jong Un) proposes dialog tomorrow, nor should we be overly surprised, or discouraged, if there’s an ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) launch by Sunday.”Seiler also said humanitarian aid, which Blinken said the United States should look at providing to North Korea if needed, was not something of interest to Pyongyang.The force North Korea seeks to develop was far more than that needed by a country that simply wanted to be left alone, Seiler said, adding: “That is where the real risk of inaction comes in.”On Tuesday, Blinken had spoken of the review plan in response to a question by Democratic Senator Ed Markey, who asked whether Blinken would, with the ultimate aim of North Korea denuclearizing, support a “phased agreement” that offered tailored sanctions relief to Pyongyang in return for a freeze in its weapons programs.Biden’s top Asia official, Kurt Campbell, has said the administration must decide its approach quickly and not repeat an Obama-era delay that led to “provocative” steps by Pyongyang that prevented engagement.Campbell also had some praise for former President Donald Trump’s unprecedented summits with Kim, although these made no progress in curtailing a North Korean nuclear weapons program that expanded in the meantime.
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In Somalia, Mothers Fear Sons Were Sent to Ethiopia ConflictÂ
Pressure is growing on Somalia’s government amid allegations that Somali soldiers have been sent to fight in neighboring Ethiopia’s deadly Tigray conflict.Mothers have held rare protests in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, and elsewhere, demanding to know the fate of their children who originally were sent to Eritrea for military training. They fear their children have been deployed to the Tigray region, where Ethiopian forces have been fighting Tigray ones since November in a conflict that threatens to destabilize the Horn of Africa.”I heard that our children who were sent to Eritrea for military training have been taken and their responsibility was turned over to [Ethiopian Prime Minister] Abiy Ahmed to fight for him,” Fatuma Moallim Abdulle, the mother of soldier Ahmed Ibrahim Jumaleh, 20, told The Associated Press.”According to the information I gathered, our children were taken straight to Mekelle city,” the capital of the Tigray region, she said. “You may understand how I feel. I am a mother who carried her child for nine months in my belly. That’s my blood and flesh.”Ethiopia this week denied reports of the presence of Somali soldiers in Tigray, and it continued to deny the presence of Eritrean ones.Teaming upAbiy made peace with neighboring Eritrea in 2018, for which he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Now critics say Ethiopian and Eritrean forces have teamed up in the conflict against a common enemy in the now-fugitive Tigray leaders, who dominated Ethiopia’s government for nearly three decades before Abiy took office and embarked on a round of regional peacemaking that included Somalia.FILE – Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed attends East Africa’s regional Intergovernmental Authority on Development Special Summit in Nairobi, March 25, 2017.Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed has been asked by the head of the country’s parliamentary committee on foreign affairs, Abdulqadir Ossoble Ali, to investigate allegations of participation in the Tigray conflict.”We have the oversight right to check what our government is doing,” Ali wrote in a letter distributed to media outlets.And the former deputy director for Somalia’s intelligence agency, Ismael Dahir Osman, has said “it is a question worth asking why these soldiers are not yet back home after more than a year when their training would have concluded long ago.”Somalia’s information minister, Osman Abokor Dubbe, this week denied that Somali soldiers who had been outside the country for training have been involved in the Tigray conflict.”There are no Somali troops requested by the Ethiopian government to fight for them and fight in Tigray,” he said.Elections approachThe issue has emerged at a sensitive time in Somalia. The country is set to hold national elections in the coming weeks, but two federal states have refused to participate, and the opposition accuses the president of trying to push ahead with a partial vote.”The parents of those children keep calling us and they don’t have any contact with their children, and some of them were told that their boys have died,” one opposition presidential candidate, Abdurahman Abdishakur Warsame, told the AP. “According to the information we’re receiving, those boys were taken to the war in northern Ethiopia. We’re calling for an independent national commission to investigate the matter, and if it is proven to be true, it will amount to treason of national scale.”
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Dry January Not That Dry for Some at Rocky Start of 2021
A raging pandemic, tumultuous presidential election and deadly Capitol insurrection have combined to make the annual tradition of Dry January less than air-tight for some.Not Sarah Arvizo. She considers it her easiest yet.As much as the 32-year-old Manhattanite would love to partake in a little “vinopeutics,” she said the abstinence from alcohol period she’s participated in for several years has been made smoother this time around by her at-home pandemic life and the closing of bars and restaurants.”Longing for those days, for sure,” said the social drinker who lives alone. “But unless I want to freeze outside, that’s largely off the table this year.”Eight-year-old Dry January, which comes at the height of resolution season after the holidays, has brought on the desired benefits for many among the millions participating around the world. They’re losing quarantine weight, experiencing more clarity and sleeping easier.Others with lockdown time on their hands and round-the-clock access to TV news and the home liquor cabinet are struggling to meet the challenge. Some who have already cheated hoisted a glass on Inauguration Day.Sue Cornick, 52, in Los Angeles, wanted to experience Dry January after her consumption of alcohol rose from three or four days a week to five or six. But she knew pulling the plug wouldn’t work before a celebratory Inauguration Day, so it’s Dry February for her.”Full disclosure, my Dry February will be more like almost dry. I’ll definitely have a cheat day here and there. Just no daily habit,” she said.Others are holding steadfast but said the horrid year that was and the chaotic events of January have made it far more difficult. The odds aren’t in their favor. Studies over the years have shown that a small percentage of New Year’s resolutions overall are actually achieved.Peta Grafham, a 61-year-old retired IT specialist in Tryon, North Carolina, signed on to Dry January after watching her alcohol intake creep up during the pandemic and months of political and racial turmoil.”I’m a social creature and isolating has been difficult. I found that I would open a bottle of wine and watch TV, usually CNN, and could knock back a bottle in less than two hours. Then I would move on to the Grand Marnier,” said Grafham, who lives with her husband. “I announced to my friends and family that I was doing a Dry January, so my pride is what’s keeping me sober.”She hasn’t had a drop since December 31. Her spouse didn’t join, but she said he’s an efficient nurser of bourbon or vodka and has supported her effort.”I seemed incapable of limiting myself to just one glass,” Grafham said.According to a recent survey from the American Psychological Association, 78% of adults report the COVID-19 pandemic has been a significant source of stress, and 65% said the amount of uncertainty in the world is causing strain.At 27, Emily Roethle in Encinitas, California, nearly broke on Jan. 6, when a riotous mob descended on the Capitol.”This is my second Dry January,” she said. “It’s difficult this year. I’ve looked to my glass of wine to separate work from home as I work remote, but in ways it’s easier as there’s no happy hour or dinner invitations.”While addiction treatment experts note that a month of forced sobriety may not have a lasting impact and may lead to binge drinking in February, others believe the show of sobriety can’t hurt.Dry January began after a woman training for her first half-marathon, Emily Robinson in Britain, decided to quit drinking for the month. She later went to work for an alcohol awareness organization that launched a national campaign. The event slowly went global.Well before that, in 1942, Finland began a program called Raitis Tammikuu, meaning sober January, to assist the war effort against the Soviet Union, said Hilary Sheinbaum, who wrote a new book about Dry January, “The Dry Challenge.” She said she wrote from personal experience.”On Dec. 31, 2016, moments before the ball dropped, I made a Dry January bet with a friend,” Sheinbaum said. “In the end, I ended up going the full 31 days. My friend did not. He ended up buying me a very fancy meal, but I had the opportunity to see how alcohol was affecting my day-to-day life. With Dry January, I had clearer skin. I was sleeping better. I had so much more financial savings at the end of the month. This is my fifth Dry January.”When she took on her first dry challenge, she was working regularly at booze-infused events as a red-carpet reporter, and a food and beverage writer. She was also single and going on a lot of dates. Now in a two-year relationship, she and her live-in boyfriend do Dry January together.She and others note that the ritual isn’t meant as a substitute for addiction treatment and recovery.Dr. Joseph DeSanto, a medical doctor and addiction specialist for the recovery program BioCorRx, agreed but said Dry January may give those in trouble “something to rally around, especially if they’re not in a 12-step group, and provide a sense of community.”He added: “Any kind of harm reduction is advantageous. If someone is a heavy drinker, they could benefit greatly from switching to moderate to light drinking, even if they can’t stop altogether. I’ve never met an alcoholic that felt worse from drinking less or not drinking.”
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‘Choose — I Kill You or Rape You’: Abuse Accusations Surge in Ethiopia’s War
The young coffee seller said she was split from family and friends by an Ethiopian soldier at the Tekeze River, taken down a path, and given a harrowing choice. “He said: ‘Choose, either I kill you or rape you’,” the 25-year-old told Reuters at the Hamdayet refugee camp in Sudan where she had fled from conflict in Ethiopia’s Tigray region. The doctor who treated her when she arrived at the camp in December, Tewadrous Tefera Limeuh, confirmed to Reuters that he provided pills to stop pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, and guided her to a psychotherapist. “The soldier … forced a gun on her and raped her,” Tewadrous, who was volunteering with the Sudanese Red Crescent, said the woman told him. “She asked him if he had a condom and he said, ‘why would I need a condom?'” Five aid workers for international and Ethiopian aid groups said they had received multiple similar reports of abuse in Tigray. The United Nations appealed this week for an end to sexual assaults in the region. Among a “high number” of allegations, particularly disturbing reports have emerged of people being forced to rape relatives or have sex in exchange for basic supplies, the U.N. Office of the Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict said in a statement Thursday. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government and the military did not immediately respond to questions from Reuters about the reports of rape. Ethiopian authorities have previously denied rights abuses, pointing the finger instead at the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the region’s former ruling party whose forces they accuse of insurrection. “I call on all parties involved in the hostilities in the Tigray region to commit to a zero-tolerance policy for crimes of sexual violence,” U.N. special representative Geraldine Boezio said in the statement. Women and girls in refugee camps within Ethiopia appear to have been particularly targeted, and medical centers are under pressure for emergency contraception and tests for sexually transmitted infections, the statement said. Reuters could not independently verify the accounts of rape. Media have been largely banned from Tigray, aid agencies have struggled for access, and communications were down for weeks. Abusers in uniform The 25-year-old woman who spoke with Reuters said her abuser wore an Ethiopian federal army uniform. The five aid workers said other women described their alleged assailants as being militia fighters from Ethiopia’s Amhara region or Eritrean soldiers, both allied with Abiy’s troops. Reuters was unable to determine the identity of the woman’s assailant. Abiy’s spokeswoman, Tigray’s interim governor, the mayor of the regional capital Mekelle, Eritrea’s foreign minister and Ethiopia’s army spokesman did not immediately reply to requests for comment on rape allegations. Reuters could not reach TPLF representatives. “I don’t have any information about that,” Amhara regional spokesman Gizachew Muluneh told Reuters by phone. Ethiopia and Eritrea have both denied that Eritrean troops are in Ethiopia, contradicting dozens of eyewitness interviews, diplomats and an Ethiopian general. ‘Why is a woman raped?’ At a meeting of security officials in Mekelle broadcast on Ethiopian state TV earlier this month, one soldier spoke of abuses even after the city had been captured by federal forces. “I was angry yesterday. Why does a woman get raped in Mekelle city? It wouldn’t be shocking if it happened during the war. … But women were raped yesterday and today when the local police and federal police are around,” said the soldier, who was not identified. Local authorities did not immediately respond to efforts to seek comment on whether any soldiers might be investigated or brought to justice. Tewadrous, the refugee camp doctor, described two other rape cases he had handled. One woman, who said she had escaped from Rawyan town in Tigray, told of three soldiers she identified as Amhara special forces knocking at her door, the doctor said. When she refused them entry, they broke in and assaulted her. An aid worker in the town of Wukro told Reuters victims had recounted how a husband was forced to kneel and watch while his wife was raped by soldiers they identified as Eritrean. A medical worker in Adigrat said he treated six women who had been raped by a group of soldiers and told not to seek help afterward. They found courage to come forward days later, but there were no medicines to treat them, the medic said. In Mekelle, one man was beaten up after begging soldiers to stop raping a 19-year-old, according to a medical worker who treated both victims. Mekelle charity Elshadai said it has prepared 50 beds for rape victims.
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Kamala Harris Makes History as First Black and Indian American Female Vice PresidentÂ
America’s first-ever female vice president, Kamala Harris, has been sworn into office. VOA’s Congressional Correspondent Katherine Gypson reports on the road ahead for Harris as she settles into the second most powerful position in the U.S. government.Produced by: Katherine Gypson, Jesse OniCamera: Adam Greenbaum
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UK Chief Scientist: Virus Variant May Be More Deadly, Vaccines Effective Against It
There is some evidence that a new coronavirus variant first identified in southeast England carries a higher risk of death than the original strain, the British government’s chief scientific adviser said Friday — though he stressed that the data is uncertain. Patrick Vallance told a news conference that “there is evidence that there is an increased risk for those who have the new variant.” Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
A person receives the Oxford/AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine at an NHS vaccination center in York, Britain, Jan. 22, 2021.But Vallance stressed that “the evidence is not yet strong” and more research is needed. In contrast to that uncertainty, he said, there is growing confidence that the variant is more easily passed on than the original coronavirus strain. He said it appears to be between 30% and 70% more transmissible. Maria Van Kerkhove, the World Health Organization’s technical lead on COVID-19, said studies were under way to look at the transmission and severity of new virus variants. She said so far “they haven’t seen an increase in severity” but that more transmission could lead to “an overburdened health care system” and thus more deaths. The evidence for the new variant being more deadly is in a paper prepared by a group of scientists that advises the government on new respiratory viruses, based on several studies. Paul Hunter, professor in Medicine at the University of East Anglia, said “the conclusion about this probable increased lethality comes from analyses made by several different groups, though working with essentially the same data.” “There is quite a bit of difference in the estimated increased risk of death between the different analyses, though most but not all show increased risk of death,” he said. A man wearing a protective mask walks along a queue for vaccinations at Lord’s Cricket Ground, amid the COVID-19 outbreak, in London, Britain, Jan. 22, 2021.Ian Jones, professor of Virology at the University of Reading, said “the data is limited and the conclusions preliminary. However, an increased case fatality rate is certainly possible with a virus that has upped its game in transmission.” British officials say they are confident that the vaccines that have been authorized for use against COVID-19 will be effective against the new strain identified in the country. But Vallance said scientists are concerned that variants identified in Brazil and South Africa could be more resistant to vaccines, adding that more research needs to be done. Travel restrictionsConcerns about newly identified variants have triggered a spate of new travel restrictions around the world. Many countries have closed their borders to travelers from Britain, and Great Britain has halted flights from Brazil and South Africa. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said there could be further restrictions. “We may need to go further to protect our borders,” he said. Britain has recorded over 96,000 deaths among people who tested positive for the coronavirus, the highest confirmed total in Europe. The country is currently in a lockdown in an attempt to slow the latest surge of the coronavirus outbreak. Pubs, restaurants, entertainment venues and many shops are closed, and people are required to stay largely at home. No end in sightThe number of new infections has begun to fall, but deaths remain high, averaging more than 1,000 a day, and the number of hospitalized patients is 80% higher than at the first peak of the pandemic in the spring. Johnson, who has often been accused of giving overly optimistic predictions about relaxing coronavirus restrictions, sounded gloomy. “We will have to live with coronavirus in one way or another for a long while to come,” he said, adding that “it’s an open question” when measures could be eased. “At this stage you’ve got to be very, very cautious indeed,” he said. Vallance agreed. “I don’t think this virus is going anywhere,” he said. “It’s going to be around, probably, forever.”
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Impeachment Charge Against Trump to Be Sent to Senate MondayÂ
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Monday will send an article of impeachment against Donald Trump to the Senate, Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Friday, beginning a trial at which the former president could be convicted of inciting an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.”There will be a trial,” Schumer said on the Senate floor. “It will be a full trial. It will be a fair trial.”Democrats rejected Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s request to delay Trump’s impeachment trial until next month on the ground that Trump’s legal team needs more time to develop a defense strategy.Trump is the first U.S. president to be impeached twice and the first to go on trial after leaving office. Schumer did not say when Trump’s second impeachment trial would begin, but if he is convicted of the single charge of incitement of insurrection, he could be barred from holding federal office again.GOP reservationsA conviction would require at least 17 Republican Senate votes, but to date only a handful of Republicans have indicated they would consider convicting Trump, and most have questioned the legality of trying a president after his term has ended. Republicans also have complained a trial would be divisive and distract the new Biden administration.As preparations for the trial continue, Schumer and McConnell, the Senate’s majority leader until Democrats narrowly won control earlier this month, are vying for advantage in the evenly divided Senate, where Democrats now have an edge because of Vice President Kamala Harris’ tiebreaking vote.Shortly before the January 6 insurrection that resulted in the deaths of five people, Trump told thousands of supporters at a rally near the White House to “fight like hell” against his election loss, which Congress was in the process of formally certifying.Thousands of his supporters marched to the Capitol and hundreds of them broke in, delaying the certification of the results. A Capitol Police officer was among those who died in the rioting. The House impeached Trump one week later, with the support of 10 Republicans who joined Democrats in voting to impeach.
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WHO Welcomes US Back After Biden Moves to Retain Membership
The World Health Organization (WHO) Friday formally welcomed back the United States, after President Joe Biden signed an executive order this week to retain U.S. membership.
Speaking at the agency’s regular briefing in Geneva, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus noted the United States was a founding member of the organization in 1948 and has long played a vital role in global health.
Tedros said he welcomes Biden’s commitment, “not just to remaining part of the WHO family, but to working constructively with the WHO, its Member States and the multilateral system to end the COVID-19 pandemic and address the many health challenges we face globally.”
The director-general also noted that the U.S. committed to joining the WHO-organized international vaccine cooperative, COVAX. Tedros said the cooperative has signed an agreement with Pfizer/BioNTech for up to 40 million doses of its vaccine.
He said they also expect 150 million doses of the AstraZeneca/Oxford COVID-19 vaccine, pending its approval for emergency use by the WHO. Tedros said if all goes as planned, COVAX is on schedule to begin delivering vaccines by February and meeting its goal of delivering 2 billion doses by the end of year.
The WHO director-general also thanked U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, whom he said he spoke with Thursday on her first full day in office. He said he told the vice president he was grateful for the new administration’s commitment to advancing women’s health as well as action on climate change.
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Turkish-Greek Talks Resume to Defuse High Tensions Between NATO Members
After months of high seas tensions with Turkish and Greek warships facing off against one another over territorial disputes, the two nations now are set to resume talks Monday, after a nearly five-year hiatus. Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul.
Camera: Berke Bas Produced by: Berke Bas, Rod James
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South Sudanese Still Face Threat from Unexploded Mines, Munitions
Many South Sudanese have been returning home to farm the land and live their lives after United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) workers spent years clearing huge portions of the country that were littered with unexploded ordnance. Still, officials warn the work is far from over.In December, U.N .mine workers detonated a number of unexploded ordnances in Amee, a village located 135 kilometers southeast of Juba, but civilians still come across unexploded devices.Okolo Joseph, a resident of Lokiliri Payam in Central Equatoria state, said his son James Wani, 6, was maimed by a landmine last April while playing with other children who found an unidentified object on the ground. “… He tried to chase the younger ones away and said, ‘leave us alone.’ At the end, when the rest of the children tried to turn their backs on [him], running away, he threw the object behind them and that was how the incident happened,” Joseph told VOA’s South Sudan in Focus. He said his son still feels severe pain in his injured leg and he cannot do much of anything in his day-to-day life without help. “For him to move without a stick is a problem. I am sure this guy cannot be able to do anything for himself because leg is important for you to stand, digging and maybe moving to collect something,” Joseph said.South Sudan Religious Leaders Hold Talks Aimed at Ending Intercommunal FightingAfter more than 50 deaths in December, Central Equatoria state religious leaders and activists organize meetings between communities to try to stop intercommunal violence Lokiliri resident Mario Ladu said his son, Michael Ladule, 13, was struck by an unexploded bomb in August last year. Michael and other children were playing with an unidentified object they found on the ground when it suddenly exploded. Michael suffered head injuries that he is still dealing with, according to Ladu. “He is no longer normal as he used to be, because the injury in the head has gone very bad with him … The wound in the head appears like it has cured, but when you watch it closely you can realize that he still has problem,” Ladu told VOA’s South Sudan in Focus.Among the unexploded ordnance U.N. landmine workers have discovered, removed and detonated are Russian-made cluster munitions. They were dropped by the thousands across parts of South Sudan during the 21-year civil war between the Khartoum government and Sudanese People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM).UNMAS officials say clearing the unexploded ordnance have made it possible for thousands of families to return home and farm the land again.Charles Tombe, 35, who fled Amee village during the SPLA-Khartoum conflict, returned home in 2011; he has been farming ever since. “The places they have cleared help us. They give us freedom to use whether working and walking in them. It helps us a lot. And places they have marked as dangerous help and prevent us from encroaching them, because we already know they are dangerous,” Tombe said. UNMAS official Richard Boulter told South Sudan in Focus that fighting during South Sudan’s own civil war, between 2013 and 2017, has slowed efforts to de-mine the entire country. “While insecurity reigns, then banditry will remain prevalent, and it makes it very hard to send a team out with several vehicles, some high price kits, some food and some money and some fuel because they become high profile target for robbers,” said Boulter.Since 2004, 1,404 people across South Sudan have been killed by unexploded ammunitions, and more than 3,700 others were injured by the devices, according to UNMAS.
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Vaccination Uncertainty in Japan Casts Doubt Over Olympics
Japan is publicly adamant that it will stage its postponed Olympics this summer. But to pull it off, many believe the vaccination of its 127 million citizens for the coronavirus is key.
It’s an immense undertaking in the best of circumstances and complicated now by an overly cautious decision-making process, bureaucratic roadblocks and a public that has long been deeply wary of vaccines.
Japan hopes to start COVID-19 vaccinations in late February, but uncertainty is growing that a nation ranked among the world’s lowest in vaccine confidence can pull off the massive, $14 billion project in time for the games in July, casting doubt on whether the Tokyo Olympics can happen.
Japan has secured vaccines for all its citizens, and then some, after striking deals with three foreign pharmaceutical makers – Pfizer Inc., AstraZeneca and Moderna Inc. Its swift action was seen as proof of its resolve to stage the games after a one-year postponement because of the pandemic.
The country needs foreign-made vaccines because local development is only in its early stages.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, in a speech this week, said vaccines are “the clincher” in the fight against the pandemic and vowed to start vaccinations as soon as late February, when health ministry approval of the Pfizer vaccine, the first applicant, is expected.
Suga pledged to provide “accurate information based on scientific findings, including side effects and efficacy,” an attempt to address the worries of vaccine skeptics.
Under the current plan, inoculations will start with 10,000 front-line medical workers. Then about 3 million other medical workers will be added ahead of high-risk groups such as the elderly, those with underlying health conditions and caregivers. The rest of the population is expected to get access around May or later, though officials refuse to give an exact timeline.
Japan is under a partial state of emergency and struggling with an upsurge of infections. There have been about 351,000 cases, with 4,800 deaths, according to the health ministry.
Many people are skeptical of the vaccination effort, partly because side effects of vaccines have often been played up here. A recent survey on TBS television found only 48% of respondents said they wanted a COVID-19 vaccination. In a Lancet study of 149 countries published in September, Japan ranked among the lowest in vaccine confidence, with less than 25% of people agreeing on vaccine safety, importance and effectiveness.
Many Japanese have a vague unease about vaccines, said Dr. Takashi Nakano, a Kawasaki Medical School professor and vaccine expert. “If something (negative) happens after inoculation, people tend to think it’s because of the vaccine, and that’s the image stuck in their mind for a long time.”
The history of vaccine mistrust in Japan dates to 1948, when dozens of babies died after getting a faulty diphtheria vaccine. In 1989, cases of aseptic meningitis in children who received a combined vaccination for measles, mumps and rubella, or MMR, prompted lawsuits against the government, forcing it to scrap the mix four years later.
A 1992 court ruling held the government liable for adverse reactions linked to several vaccines, while defining suspected side effects as adverse events, but without sufficient scientific evidence, experts say. In a major change to its policy, Japan in 1994 revised its vaccination law to scrap mandatory inoculation.
While several Japanese companies and research organizations are currently developing their own coronavirus vaccines, Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. will distribute the Moderna vaccine and produce the Novavax vaccine in Japan.
Masayuki Imagawa, head of Takeda’s Japan vaccine business unit, said his company last year considered developing its own vaccine. But instead, it decided to prioritize speed and chose to import Moderna’s product and make the Novavax vaccine at Takeda’s factory in Japan. He said the decision was not influenced by the Olympics.
Experts also worry about running into logistical challenges and bureaucratic roadblocks in staging a massive inoculation project that involves five government ministries along with local towns and cities. The government has budgeted more than $14 billion for the vaccine project.
Thousands of medical workers would have to be mobilized to give the shots, monitor and respond in case of any problems. Securing their help is difficult when hospitals are already burdened with treatment of COVID-19 patients, said Hitoshi Iwase, an official in Tokyo’s Sumida district tasked with preparing vaccinations for 275,000 residents.
While vaccines are considered key to achieving the games, Prime Minister Suga said they won’t be required.
“We will prepare for a safe and secure Olympics without making vaccination a precondition,” Suga said Thursday, responding to a call by opposition lawmakers for a further postponement or cancellation of the games to concentrate on virus measures.
Uncertainty over vaccine safety and efficacy make it difficult to predict when Japan can obtain wide enough immunity to the coronavirus to control the pandemic.
“It is inappropriate to push vaccinations to hold the Olympics,” said Dr. Tetsuo Nakayama, a professor at Kitasato Institute for Life Sciences. “Vaccines should be used to protect the people’s health, not to achieve the Olympics.”
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Surging Inter-Ethnic Violence in Sudan’s Darfur Region Leaves Hundreds Dead, Injured
The U.N. Human Rights Office is calling for increased security in Sudan’s volatile Darfur region, where a recent surge in inter-communal violence has resulted in hundreds of deaths and injuries, and mass displacement. Clashes erupted between armed men of the Masalit and Arab communities last weekend in a camp for internally displaced people in West Darfur. The violence reportedly left 160 people dead and 215 injured. In a separate incident in South Darfur Monday, fighting between armed men from the Falata and Reizigat tribes reportedly killed 72 people and injured 73 others. In both cases, U.N. human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani says inter-communal violence was triggered by the killing of a member of one of the rival communities. “What is very worrying is given the lack of security in these areas and given the lack of accountability for crimes and human rights violations, people are feeling emboldened to take the law into their own hands and a single incident can really very easily spark inter-communal conflict and can lead to many people being killed and displaced,” said Shamdasani. The U.N. human rights office is calling on the government of Sudan to promptly ensure the full implementation of its National Plan for the protection of civilians in Darfur. Shamdasani notes the government said it would deploy a joint force composed of 12,000 security officers to the region. She adds that has not happened.“These incidents raise serious concerns about the imminent risk of further violence in Darfur, an environment where decades-old ethnic and tribal tensions that were further stoked by the previous regime continue to fester. There are severe gaps in protection by state authorities, as well as a lack of accountability for violations,” said Shamdasani.The U.N. agency is urging Sudanese authorities to carry out a thorough investigation into the deadly incidents and to ensure individual perpetrators are brought to justice. Accountability for crimes, it says, is crucial in breaking the cycle of armed citizens taking the law into their own hands to avenge attacks on members of their communities.
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China Seen as Pressing Advantage in Myanmar with High-Level Visit, Deals
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi helped cinch Beijing’s hold on Myanmar with a visit last week that saw the two countries agree to push ahead with a major transportation project and lock in a five-year trade and economic pact, analysts say.Wang also sought to remind Myanmar of China’s steadfast support ahead of a new U.S. administration expected to pay more attention to a region the two superpowers are vying to influence, they add.China Promises Myanmar 300,000 Vaccine DosesForeign Minister Wang Yi also pledged to move ahead on economic agreementsThe January 11-12 trip made Wang the first senior foreign delegate to visit Myanmar since a November election that returned the National League for Democracy and the country’s de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, to power for a second term. It also followed Chinese President Xi Jinping’s high-profile visit a year ago, when he signed 33 bilateral deals.China Draws Myanmar Closer with Visit from President XiNew deals emphasize China’s tightening links to Myanmar Wang left Myanmar with a more modest-sounding eight, but they may, on the whole, carry more weight, said Yun Sun, China program director at the Stimson Center, a Washington think tank.While Xi’s deals laid the groundwork for closer ties with Myanmar, “it was really Wang Yi’s job to transpire them into reality,” she said.Back on trackYun said the minister’s visit may well have been the most substantive by a Chinese official in a decade. Key among the new deals is a feasibility study for the second half of a planned rail line bisecting Myanmar from its border with China in the east to its Bay of Bengal coast in the west.The line is part of the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor, an offshoot of China’s Belt and Road Initiative and its bid for a second route to the Indian Ocean to bypass the Malacca Strait, a potential chokepoint for its oil and gas imports. A deep-water port on the coast is in the works and parallel oil and gas pipelines run the route already.Work on the corridor has been slowed by Myanmar’s fears of drowning in debt to China to pay for its share of the mega-projects, and concerns over Beijing’s sway in the country run deep.Yun said China’s feasibility study for the first half of the rail line drew yet more blowback from locals in its path, making a deal to move ahead with the second half no mean feat.“In terms of the political sensitivity associated with this and for all the political problems that we have witnessed about this, I think the fact that China is able to push this forward means that China is making significant progress on the ground,” she said.Casinos, COVID or Drugs? Why China Is Building a Fence on Myanmar Border Chinese authorities are putting up a barrier along their southeastern border with Shan State, a volatile part of Myanmar, media reports say A Five-Year Plan for Economic and Trade Cooperation that Wang left Myanmar with also signaled a new level of trust that relations would stay strong, Yun added.“For China and Myanmar to already have this blueprint at the beginning of the [NLD’s] second term, I think that shows not only Myanmar is dependent on China, it also shows that China has specific strategic plans regarding the country,” she said.A friend in needBy sending Wang to Myanmar only a year after Xi’s visit, China also wants to remind the country of its all-weather friendship when the pandemic and politics in the U.S. may leave it feeling ignored by the West, said Hervé Lemahieu, Myanmar analyst for Australia’s Lowy Institute.“They certainly wanted to reinforce this image of being the external power with the greatest support for Myanmar,” he said.“It’s to say basically it’s business as usual, everything’s on track despite a very turbulent pandemic year,” and that “you can expect more diplomatic protection,” he added.China is widely seen as using its deep pockets and permanent U.N. Security Council seat to shield Myanmar from fallout over its dismal human rights record, including what the U.N. itself has called the ethnic cleansing of the country’s Rohingya minority.Lemahieu said China has had relatively little competition for influence over Southeast Asia from the U.S. in recent years but may be expecting that to change under U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration.“That was another thing: Let’s get in as the first foreign minister after the Myanmar elections and make sure that we’re still on good grounds just in case the Biden administration is going to push hard on Southeast Asia in the next coming months. So I think that’s the other reasoning behind Wang Yi’s trip, not only to Myanmar but to the rest of Southeast Asia,” he said.Wang’s visit to Myanmar was the first stop on a swing through the region that also took in Brunei, Indonesia and the Philippines.China “wants to make sure [of] its relations with the regional countries and confirm the policies of the regional countries before the new U.S. government is formed,” agreed Khin Khin Kyaw Khee, China analyst at the Institute for Strategy and Policy, a Myanmar think tank.“They want to take the advantage by talking to these countries … before the [new] US government is formed and U.S. foreign policy toward this region is … settled,” she said.“Damage control”At the same time, the tour was “damage control” for a Beijing hoping to override claims by its critics, which it denies, that China inadvertently let the coronavirus pandemic sweep the globe by initially smothering local reports of the first outbreak in Wuhan, said Lemahieu.UN Says Myanmar’s Discriminatory Laws Cast Doubt on Fairness of Elections Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights criticizes notes internet shutdown remains in place in eight townships in Rakhine and Chin states, severely limiting ability of residents to exchange informationTo that end Wang announced that China would be donating 300,000 doses of its leading COVID-19 vaccine CoronaVac to Myanmar, which is struggling to secure shots for its 54 million people.Three of Wang’s stops — Indonesia, Myanmar and the Philippines — are straining under the highest COVID-19 caseloads in the region.In Myanmar and beyond, China is also aiming to “repackage” its Belt and Road projects, not as the debt traps some host countries fear them to be, but the spark that will reignite national economies brought down by the pandemic, Lemahieu added.He said China wants to convince them that “it’s not just the source of the virus but it’s the source of the solution ultimately.”
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Moscow Welcomes US Plan to Extend Nuclear Arms Treaty
Russia welcomed Friday the Biden administration’s announcement Thursday it is seeking a five-year extension of the New START arms control treaty, set to expire February 5, with the Kremlin saying it is waiting to see the details.NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg gives a press briefing at the Alliance headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, Jan. 14, 2021.Also, on Thursday, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the U.S. and Russia should extend the treaty and broaden it. ”We should not end up in a situation with no limitation on nuclear warheads, and New START will expire within days,” Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels.”An extension of the New START is not the end, it’s the beginning of our efforts to further strengthen arms control,” Stoltenberg said. The treaty was signed in 2010 by then-U.S. President Barack Obama and then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Under the pact, each country is limited to no more than 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads. Former U.S. President Donald Trump had attacked the deal, contending that it put the United States at a disadvantage.
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Moscow Welcomes US Plan to Seek Arms Treaty
Russia welcomed Friday the Biden administration’s announcement Thursday it is seeking a five-year extension of the New START arms control treaty, set to expire February 5, with the Kremlin saying it is waiting to see the details.NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg gives a press briefing at the Alliance headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, Jan. 14, 2021.Also, on Thursday, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the U.S. and Russia should extend the treaty and broaden it. ”We should not end up in a situation with no limitation on nuclear warheads, and New START will expire within days,” Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels.”An extension of the New START is not the end, it’s the beginning of our efforts to further strengthen arms control,” Stoltenberg said. The treaty was signed in 2010 by then-U.S. President Barack Obama and then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Under the pact, each country is limited to no more than 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads. Former U.S. President Donald Trump had attacked the deal, contending that it put the United States at a disadvantage.
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Will Xi Get Along Better with Biden Than Trump?
China is gearing up to deal with a new U.S. administration after a particularly difficult year during which it suffered a series of diplomatic setbacks owing to COVID-19, trade war and human rights issues. A question being widely asked is whether Chinese President Xi Jinping will get along better with President Joe Biden than he did with former President Donald Trump.Most analysts say Biden will be in no hurry to undo many Trump administration China decisions but that he is more likely to focus on human rights and strategic issues than trying to make life more difficult for Chinese business.“There is a bipartisan consensus in Washington to be tough on China,” said Zhiqun Zhu, head of the international relations department at Bucknell University.A man stands in front of a copy of the Global Times newspaper featuring an image of the U.S. Capitol during preparation for the inauguration of Joe Biden as the U.S. president, which is placed on a public display window in Beijing, Jan. 21, 2021.The U.S. trade deficit with China at the end of the Trump administration will be around $300 billion, about the same as at the end of President Barack Obama’s administration. “The full burden of the Section 301 tariffs, most of which are still in place, has been borne by U.S. importers and consumers, not Chinese exporters,” Kennedy said referring to a legal provision that allows the government to impose trade restrictions on foreign countries.There are some areas where the two countries can try to mend relationship. “I expect the Biden administration may be willing to relax some restrictions, for example on tariffs or journalists, but only if China reciprocates and addresses problems which created the problems in the first place,” Kennedy said.Zhiqun Zhu lists some “low hanging fruits” such as resuming Fulbright programs in China and Hong Kong, a more welcoming policy toward Chinese students and scholars, return of Peace Corps to China, and possibly reopening U.S. Consulate in Chengdu and Chinese Consulate in Houston.For its part, China would try to avoid major confrontation with the United States because it suffered some serious reverses in the diplomatic field in 2020.“Covid-19 indeed hurt China’s image. Many countries still blame China for not being transparent and not doing enough early to curb the spread of the virus,” Zhiqun Zhu said. At the same time, China scored some diplomatic success with a trade agreement with the European Union and in joining the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, a trade treaty involving 15 countries, he said.Kennedy thinks both the United States and China have suffered losses to their reputations in 2020.“China suffered a setback because of the pandemic, the mounting repression in Xinjiang and Hong Kong, and its wolf-warrior diplomatic style. My sense is that China’s behavior, not external criticism, was the core reason for China’s problems in 2020. They were self-inflicted,” he said.Medical workers in protective suits attend to novel coronavirus patients at the intensive care unit (ICU) of a designated hospital in Wuhan, Hubei province, China, February 6, 2020.China is now trying to make up for some of the loss in reputation by exporting COVID-19 vaccines to several countries who need them. However, vaccines manufactured by Chinese companies have not gained worldwide acceptance, which is affecting Beijing’s efforts to distribute them.“Given the apparent lower level of effectiveness of the Chinese vaccine, there’s a big question about how much demand there will be for it, not just around the world, but within China as well,” said Kennedy. “Obviously China wants to improve its international image. Offering vaccines and providing other medical support to developing countries will help enhance Beijing’s global reputation,” said Zhu.
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Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons Enters into Force
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres and The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement welcomed the entry into force Friday of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), the first nuclear disarmament instrument in more than two decades.The treaty, endorsed by 51 states, mandates assistance, such as medical care, rehabilitation and psychological support to all victims under their jurisdiction. It also obliges them to clear areas known to be contaminated by nuclear use or testing.“The survivors of nuclear explosions and nuclear tests offered tragic testimonies and were a moral force behind the treaty,” Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for Guterres, said in a statement.Nuclear disarmament remains the highest priority of the U.N., the statement said, adding that countries around the world must take urgent action for the elimination of such weapons and prevent the human and environmental catastrophes the use of them would cause.The secretary-general is calling on all states “to work together to realize this ambition to advance common security and collective safety,” the statement said.“Today is a victory for humanity. This treaty – the result of more than 75 years of work – sends a clear signal that nuclear weapons are unacceptable from a moral, humanitarian, and now a legal point of view,” President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Peter Maurer said in a joint statement by ICRC and International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent (IFRC).“The treaty presents each of us with a really simple question: Do we want nuclear weapons to be banned or not?” Francesco Rocca, president of IFRC, said. “The entry into force of the Nuclear Ban Treaty is the beginning, not the end, of our efforts.”The ICRC and IFRC urged world leaders, including those of nuclear powers, to join the path “toward a world free of nuclear weapons, in line with long-standing international obligations, notably those under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.”The world’s major nuclear-armed states, including the United States and Russia, have not endorsed TPNW.
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Public Face of South Africa’s COVID-19 Fight Dies of Virus Complications
South Africa is mourning the sudden death of Jackson Mthembu, a cabinet minister and presidential adviser who was the public face of South Africa’s fight against COVID-19.President Cyril Ramaphosa offered condolences in a statement Thursday, saying he was shocked and saddened that 62-year-old Mthembu had died from COVID-related complications.He is the first of six South African cabinet members infected with COVID-19 to succumb to the disease.Mthembu revealed last week that he tested positive for the virus during a checkup for abdominal pain.His death comes as South Africa battles a second wave of COVID-19 propelled by a virus variant believed to be more easily spread.So far, South Africa has confirmed more than 1.3 million infections and 39,501 deaths, according to John Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.
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Malaysian COVID-19 Cases Soar to Thousands per Day
Malaysia has gone back into a tough new lockdown as COVID-19 caseloads have spiked this month after a relatively calm 2020, and the government’s image is beginning to take a hit among people who are confused about what to do.The Southeast Asian country of 31.5 million people, like many of its neighbors, gained a measure of control on the coronavirus early last year through strict social distancing rules and three months of mandatory shutdowns.As other countries carry that success into 2021, though, a reopening of interstate travel last month following a snap state election in September with 67% voter turnout allowed infections to surge in Malaysia, domestic media reports say. Travel was restarted to lift the economy.The coronavirus jumped into prison populations late last year and even infected funeral guests, prompting government advice to keep attendance at funerals low.Two women take photos under the Chinese New Year lantern decorations at a shopping mall in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Jan. 16, 2021.Daily caseloads have hit new highs this month, topping 4,000 twice, and the country’s second mass stay-home orders took effect Jan. 13.“Coming from the perspective of a Malaysian, what’s unique for us is how we’ve had this relatively good management of the pandemic last year, where there was a period where we were only recording single-digit case numbers on a daily basis,” said Harris Zainul, an analyst at the Institute of Strategic and International Studies Malaysia.“So, you contrast this to how it is today, it’s quite interesting to see what’s happening in Malaysia in terms of the responses by the government to handle the quote-unquote ‘good times’ and the new challenges that you’re seeing right now,” he said.Elsewhere in Southeast Asia, Cambodia, Laos, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam have gotten COVID-19 under control. Indonesia and the Philippines still struggle, with average daily caseloads more severe than Malaysia’s.Caseloads in Malaysia have topped 4,000 per day twice this month. The cumulative caseload stands at 172,549 with 642 dead.Public support for Malaysia’s parliamentary government hovers above 60% but that’s down from around 80% in early 2020, said Ibrahim Suffian, program director with the polling group Merdeka Center in Kuala Lumpur.A medical worker collects a swab sample from a man during coronavirus testing in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, Jan. 18, 2021.Media outlets in Southeast Asia quoted Malaysia’s prime minister this month saying the health care system had reached a “breaking point.”“The government is trying to put a handle on this situation and in fact there is a sense of urgency now because the hospitals are beginning to be overwhelmed,” Suffian said.Some citizens feel annoyed because they’re not sure how to comply with epidemic control rules, Zainul said. Timely information can be hard to find on government websites, easily fanning rumors, he said. A sense of “panic” has gripped many citizens, who at the same time crave human contact that’s forbidden now under the stay-home orders, he added.Yet Malaysians are unlikely to protest at length against the government as long as they get stimulus money, said Oh Ei Sun, senior fellow with the Singapore Institute of International Affairs.“This is a very tame population here – people even if they go to [the] streets it’s like for one or two hours,” Oh said. “People complain and then the government sprinkles more money and then the complaints will stop for a while.”On Monday the government introduced a fifth economic stimulus package to date, worth $3.72 billion, to fight COVID-19 and offer economic support, domestic news media said. Officials separately plan to recruit 3,500 more medical professionals.
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Biden Signs Executive Orders on Coronavirus Pandemic
U.S. President Joe Biden spent his first full day in office Thursday signing a number of executive orders addressing the handling of the coronavirus pandemic, which has affected more people in the United States than anyplace else in the world. The U.S. has 24.6 million of the world’s more than 97 million infections.One of Biden’s orders would increase production of a syringe that pharmacists have discovered allows them to extract an extra dose of the vaccine from vials.The establishment of the Pandemic Testing Board is the result of another executive order. The aim of the new board is to increase COVID testing. Many Americans are still scrambling to secure testing appointments.Another of Biden’s executive orders mandates the wearing of masks on intercity buses and trains, as well as in airports and on airplanes. Mask-wearing has been identified as a simple, but effective means of slowing the spread of the virus.In other news on Biden’s first full day in office, the country’s leading infectious disease expert said the United States will participate in the global initiative to provide COVID-19 vaccines to poor countries.Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and Biden’s chief medical adviser, told the executive board of the World Health Organization Thursday during a videoconference that the United States will join the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access Facility, or COVAX, an international alliance led by WHO that seeks to provide COVID vaccines to the world’s poorest countries.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 8 MB480p | 12 MB540p | 15 MB720p | 28 MB1080p | 60 MBOriginal | 74 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioFauci also said the U.S. would fulfill its financial obligations to the United Nations health agency and maintain its previous staffing commitments. His remarks came one day after Biden issued an order on his first day in office pledging to restore Washington’s ties with WHO. Former President Donald Trump announced in May that he was withdrawing the United States from the WHO, accusing the agency of helping China cover up the extent of the coronavirus, which was first detected in the central city of Wuhan in late 2019.“This is a good day for WHO and a good day for global health,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in response to Fauci’s announcement.In a related story, Reuters news agency says the COVAX initiative announced Thursday that it is aiming to deliver 1.8 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccine to poor countries in 2021, and hopes to fulfill supply deals for wealthier ones in the second half of the year.The world is racing against time to produce and deliver billions of doses of new coronavirus vaccines to blunt the pandemic, which has killed over 2 million people out of a total of over 97 million confirmed COVID-19 infections, according to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.Vaccination efforts have run into numerous difficulties, however, including logistical hurdles, bureaucratic failures and a basic shortage of vaccines, which has led to residents across the U.S. having had their vaccine appointments canceled.In Peru, a group of doctors launched a hunger strike this week to protest the government’s lack of preparation for a second wave of COVID-19 cases.Dr. Teodoro Quiñones, the secretary-general of Peru’s physician’s union who is taking part in the strike, and at least a half-dozen striking doctors are staging the strike in a makeshift tent outside the headquarters of the health ministry in the capital, Lima.Quiñones said the government has not fulfilled its commitments to improve conditions in the country’s public hospital system, leaving doctors without adequate supplies of oxygen, medicines and ventilators. He told The New York Times the state-run EsSalud network dismissed COVID-19 specialists after the first wave receded and failed to hire them back when more and more new cases began filling up hospital intensive care units.The South American country has more than a million confirmed coronavirus infections, including over 39,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins.
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Central African Republic Begins 15-Day State of Emergency
A 15-day nationwide state of emergency began in the Central African Republic at midnight Thursday in response to rebel-inspired violence over last month’s disputed reelection of President Faustin-Archange Touadera.The state of emergency announcement Thursday came on the same day the head of the United Nations mission in the Central African Republic, MINUSCA, Mankeur Ndiaye, appealed to the U.N. Security Council to add more peacekeepers, warning the country was “at grave risk of a setback in terms of security and peacebuilding.”Ndiaye also suggested that regional and international support should be sought to support the Central African Republic.Former president Francois Bozize has been blamed for the inflaming violence after the Constitutional Court rejected his candidacy in the Dec. 27 presidential election, which the court declared this week was won by Touadera.The government and rebel groups entered into agreement in 2019 in attempt to suppress the unrest, but sporadic violence continues.Tens of thousands of people in the country have sought refuge in neighboring countries, including Cameroon.
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North Korean Defectors Call on Biden to Focus on Human Rights
As President Joe Biden was sworn into office Wednesday, North Korean defectors living throughout the United States expressed hope that his administration would place North Koreans’ human rights above Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons and deal forcefully with leader Kim Jong Un.Jake Kim, North Korean defector. (Screenshot)“If [the Biden administration] focuses more attention on North Korean human rights, it can lead to a result that grants legitimacy to the people, the residents of North Korea,” said Jake Kim, a 38-year-old North Korean defector who arrived in the U.S. in 2015 and is studying political science at Utah Valley University, a public institution in the city of Orem.“But when you ignore human rights and focus on nuclear weapons and Kim Jong Un, it can end up legitimizing Kim Jong Un’s regime,” he told VOA Korean Service.Kim added, “I think the issue of North Korea’s nuclear weapons will be resolved when human rights issue is resolved first.”Former President Donald Trump initially focused attention on North Korea’s human rights record by inviting defector and human rights activist Ji Seong-ho to his first State of the Union in 2018. Trump highlighted Ji’s flight on crutches from North Korea.Now a member of South Korean National Assembly, Ji is a double amputee.North Korean Defector: Trump Sent Warning to Kim in State of Union Address
A North Korean double amputee who fled North Korea on crutches says President Donald Trump sent a warning when he spoke of human rights violations in North Korea. During Tuesday night's State of the Union address, Trump said, "No regime has oppressed its own citizens more totally or brutally than the cruel dictatorship in North Korea. ...
But as Trump forged a close relationship with North Korea’s leader through two U.S.-North Korean summits, a Justin Seo, a Virginia resident who came to the U.S. in 2009 from North Korea. (Screenshot)Referring to Trump’s conciliatory tones toward Kim, Justin Seo, a 32-year-old Virginia resident who came to the U.S. in 2009, said, “What I was disappointed with President Trump, to be honest, is that he called Kim Jong Un ‘great.’”Seo continued, “I would like [Biden] to deal more forcefully [with the regime].”Charles Kim, 53, who lives in Charlottesville, Virginia, wants to see continued U.S. pressure on Pyongyang.“I would like the Biden administration to seek measures to pressure North Korea so that sanctions on North Korea can become more effective,” said Kim, who fled North Korea in 2005 and arrived in the U.S. in 2008. In July, more than 40 countries accused North Korea of Grace Jo escaped North Korea in October 2006 and entered the US two years later in March 2008.Describing herself as “a survivor who experienced true North Korea,” Grace Jo, a 29-year-old student at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia, spoke on behalf of North Korean defectors seeking freedom in the U.S.“I would be very thankful if the new administration listens to the voice of those people and help giving them freedom so there can be more free college students like myself,” said Jo, who escaped North Korea in October 2006 and entered the U.S. two years later in March 2008.Christy Lee contributed to this report, originated by VOA Korean.
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New Acting USAGM Chief Begins Undoing Predecessor’s Policies
Moving swiftly on her first day as acting CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, journalist Kelu Chao oversaw the removal of the top executive at the Voice of America, reversing a widely criticized appointment by her Trump-appointed predecessor, Michael Pack.Robert Reilly, whom Pack appointed as director of Voice of America in December, was removed along with his deputy, Elizabeth Robbins. Yolanda Lopez, former VOA news director whom Reilly reassigned last week, was named acting director of VOA.With his departure, Reilly made history as the first VOA director to have stood down twice, serving little more than a year during two appointments that were 20 years apart.USAGM emailed staff about the changes Thursday, also confirming that President Joe Biden had selected Chao, a highly regarded veteran of VOA, as acting CEO of USAGM, the parent organization. Pack resigned Wednesday after the new Democratic administration informed him that he would be removed. Brian Conniff, former president of the Middle East Broadcasting Networks, was named Chao’s deputy.The announcement added that Jeffrey Shapiro had resigned as director of the Office of Cuba Broadcasting.Chao, a veteran broadcast journalist who has worked for more than 40 years at Voice of America and the agency, is the first woman to hold the top position at USAGM.In her acting role, Chao will oversee USAGM’s networks and grantees that include VOA, Radio Free Asia, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the Office of Cuba Broadcasting, Middle East Broadcasting Networks, and the internet freedom nonprofit, the Open Technology Fund. The announcement said Biden was expected to nominate a permanent CEO soon.Reilly’s appointment raised criticism and concern among lawmakers.At least 48 current and former journalists had called for Reilly and Robbins to resign last week, charging that they had violated the network’s journalism code by giving a senior government official “a free platform to speak live on our channels.” They also cited the abrupt reassignment of White House correspondent Patsy Widakuswara.Widakuswara was moved to the Indonesian Service, where she started her career at VOA, after attempting to question then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo over current news events after a speech delivered in the VOA auditorium.She also confronted Reilly about why he had not used a question-and-answer period afterward to pose questions submitted by newsroom journalists on controversial matters.Footage of her exchange with Reilly shows the director telling Widakuswara she was “not authorized” to ask questions and chastising her for not knowing how to behave. She had followed Pompeo out of the VOA building, calling out questions.Lawmakers and former USAGM officials said last month that Reilly’s public comments and his published books expressing controversial views about homosexuals and Muslims risked causing irreparable harm to the network’s credibility and reputation. When he arrived as VOA director in December, Reilly told staff his previous writings were “irrelevant” to his official duties.Eliot Engel, then the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, disagreed and described Reilly’s appointment as a “disgrace and an embarrassment.”“VOA journalists shouldn’t have to endure the reputational harm of having to work for someone with views so backward and out of step with American values,” Engel, a Democrat from New York, said in a December statement.USAGM provided no explanation for Reilly’s firing.’It must be transparent’Pack’s tenure as the first chief executive of USAGM was tumultuous and led to several whistleblower complaints, an order from the Office of Special Counsel to investigate allegations of mismanagement and separate court orders barring him and his aides from interfering in VOA editorial decisions or installing appointees at the Open Technology Fund, respectively.The former CEO said in interviews he was trying to resolve long-standing security lapses and issues of bias.David Seide, senior counsel of the nonprofit Government Accountability Project, which represents more than 20 whistleblowers at VOA, welcomed the change in leadership.He said the agency should move to reinstate Widakuswara and any other individual found to have been improperly suspended or removed and investigate allegations of mismanagement.”There must be an accounting for what has happened over the past six months. It must be transparent. New leadership’s support will be critical. I am confident they will provide it,” Seide said.During Pack’s tenure last year, lawmakers weakened the CEO position by introducing more checks and balances into the National Defense Authorization Act.The changes will prevent the CEO or federal employees from serving on any grantee board. They will also give the board power to advise the agency head to ensure the integrity and independence of the networks is respected and to approve appointments or dismissals of network heads.The boards will also need to be bipartisan, and the members must have a relevant background in journalism, technology, broadcasting or diplomacy.The changes could affect a new conservative board appointed by Pack before his departure this week. On January 19, he announced new conservative members for the network boards that he had earlier dissolved, including Roger Simon, a contributor to The Epoch Times who falsely described January’s deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol as a “false flag” operation, and Christian Whiton, who has defended Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
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